Description: Scott Bradford has been putting his opinions on his website since 1995—before most people knew what a website was. He has been a professional web developer in the public- and private-sector for over twenty years. He is an independent constitutional conservative who believes in human rights and limited government, and a Catholic Christian whose beliefs are summarized in the Nicene Creed. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from George Mason University. He loves Pink Floyd and can play the b
Public primary elections for the Democratic and Republican parties of Virginia will be held on June 20, 2023. Off on a Tangent makes recommendations to primary voters in state- and federal-level races in Virginia and local elections in Loudoun County whenever nominees will be chosen in a contested public primary election.
Political parties are private organizations that should have no formal standing in our political system. As private organizations, they are free to choose their nominees through whichever process they wish—common methods include conventions, caucuses, private “firehouse primaries,” and direct nomination by party leaders. But in Virginia and many other states, the Democratic and Republican party duopoly has given itself permission to hold public primaries when they wish to. These are managed by state electio
When a party chooses to have a public primary for an office in Virginia, it is “open”—any registered voter may vote in it. Virginia does not have formal party registrations and party membership is a private matter between the party and the individual. A voter’s party membership status may affect whether they can participate in a private nomination process, but it is irrelevant in public primaries. That said, a voter may only vote in one party’s primary on a given day. If both major parties are having public